Predictors of Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse
← Voluntary euthanasia | Culture and Health → |
Every year, a significant number of young people die from exposure to and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs against the huge cost that are invested into projects that have the aim of reducing these numbers. 400000 Americans die every year of smoking and smoking related conditions, in fact one of every 5 deaths in America is assumed to be smoking related (National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2011). Alcohol was no lesser a threat over in 1992, it was estimated that about $400billion was the amount wasted or lost to alcohol addiction. Other costs include chronic disease conditions like cirrhosis, criminal or antisocial behavior that might be a consequence of trading or acquisition of illegal chemical substances. These substances use or abuse lead to an increase in risky behavior (Galea, Nandi & Vlahov, 2004).
Charity they say begins at home, the predisposition for young people to take up the habits of alcohol and drug abuse can be increased multiple folds by the kinds of families they live in or come from. As it is often the case many of these children turn out to be alcohol and drug abusers themselves as this is the kind of life they have been exposed to (Clinton, Clark & Straub, 2010). It often proves to be the case because this is the kind of lifestyle they have been exposed to. Parental use or abuse of alcohol is a significant indicator of future use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Studies on family incidence of alcohol have shown that alcoholics in a very significant number are likely to come from families where a sibling and or a parent displayed alcohol abuse (Cotton, 1979). In addition, parental attitudes to alcohol have shown links to adolescent’s use of alcohol. Stable families often produce children who are unlikely to be alcohol abusers. The divorce rate in the United States has gone up in the last 35years; the effect of this is that most families break up before the kids become adults. The strain that this puts on the divorced party has been known to cause negative alcohol behavior. A study carried out showed that the children from recently broken homes exhibited a higher tendency to consume alcohol in larger quantities and more frequently than children from stable homes. It might not be unconnected with the huge amount of stress resulting from the breakup of their families. As a result, the children will turn to alcohol as a stress reliever and with little or no supervision can go into binge drinking and go downhill from there (Jeynes, 2001).
While families will always play a massive role in how children turn out to be as well as the decisions and choices they ultimately make, peer pressure and the relationships that exist outside of the family play an important role in the likelihood of children choosing to abuse drugs and alcohol. As children grow into adolescents their friends assume positions of greater influence in their lives and there is consistent literature evidence that having friends that use or abuse alcohol and other drugs is often a powerful indicator of the possibility of exhibiting abuse of similar substances. Speaking specifically, marijuana consumption by adolescent peers significantly increased the tendency to abuse of the drug. It has been shown that friends are the most significant factor in initiating marijuana abuse among young people (Ramirez, Hinman et al, 2011). A fact is that it is enabled by coming from less a supportive family. The influence of peers increases very much in adolescent years it is safe to say that at certain periods of adolescence the sway that friends have over young people equals or exceeds that of the family. While this may be so, the influence of the family and friends in the life and decisions of adolescents are quite interrelated. Another equally telling indicator is the presence of a sibling or close relative that abuses drugs or is an alcoholic in such cases the chances of having alcohol or drug related problems are improved. The presence of a stable family without any drug or alcohol problem significantly reduces the possibility of having friends with problems with drugs or alcohol.
The relationship between the environment where adolescents grow up and their drug and alcohol use is important. For the most part children who come from middle class to low-income class families have a higher tendency to abuse drugs and or alcohol. This tendency increases appreciably if the person is from a racial minority. Children from middle-class families although exposed to alcohol and mind altering substances show a tendency to outgrow these sorts of behavior probably due to a lack of exposure in their immediate environment and assumption of new social roles due in no small part to the availability of options that their social status affords them. For the lower class families, these sorts of options are not common-place and most of them move from being dependents to providers in a few years. There is also the issue of social pressure or doing what is popular in one’s environment, or in other cases, what is available (Schensul & Burkholder, 2005).
In addition to all of the aforementioned, personal vulnerability is a very important factor. Personal vulnerability is a function of character, personality and the advantages and pressures of one’s social status. In the light of this, African American and Latino young people form the important demographic that constitutes the must drug-vulnerable class of adolescents because a greater percentage of young people from these racial groups come from low-income class families and do not have the social and family stability available to middle class families. The immediate environment of these income groups experience very little censure of alcohol and narcotics as these substances are, relatively speaking, readily available.
All in all, a person will ultimately be a product of their environment. The family rather obviously plays the largest part in the choices that an adolescent will make because it provides the template for the interaction of the young person with his/her environment. It determines, to some extent, the kind of social interactions available to the person and the amount of influence the society has eventually on the choices and decisions they make.
- Culture and Health
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Voluntary euthanasia
- Universal Health Care in the USA
![]() |
Patti F.
Boulder, CO
|
|
I have complete confidence in the quality of the work that I order from your writing service. You have always been the prime example of what a writing service should be. |
![]() |
Shirley R.
Casper, WY
|
|
I would be honored to recommend your writing service to all of my friends. I don’t usually recommend anything unless I truly believe it to be a good thing. EssaysEmpire.com is a good thing! |
![]() |
Beverly S.
Cambridge, MA
|
|
I appreciate the help your wring service gave me with my biology paper. I have never cared much for biology. It is a tough subject for me to grasp. This is why I needed so much help with my paper. The writer absolutely understood the whole topic and turned out work that would have made anyone proud. Thanks a million for the great paper. |
![]() |
Tiffany E.
Monroe, LA
|
|
I am 100% satisfied with the writer that you assigned to my project. This person understood exactly what I needed, even though I’m not the best communicator and the instructions were tedious and difficult. I felt certain I would have to send my paper back for a number of revisions, but I didn’t. The writer was able to convey exactly what I wished to express and he did it in record time!Thanks for everything. EssaysEmpire.com is the greatest! |
![]() |
Lonnie K.
Falcon Crest, MA
|
|
I work very long hours. Therefore, I sometimes run behind in my school assignments. This is especially true for the long written assignments. It is so great to know that I can always count on EssaysEmpire.com to help me out. The papers that I buy from you are excellent, without fail. I really appreciate your help . Thanks for everything. |
![]() |
Stephanie M.
Bath, ME
|
|
This is the fourth A+ in a row from EssaysEmpire.com! Thanks! |
![]() |
Allen P.
Denver, CO
|
|
Writer #3827 is a great writer! I got an A+ on my very first paper of the term. This is the way to set the pace for the rest of the term. Thanks! |
![]() |
Maddie P.
Seattle, WA
|
|
The EssaysEmpire.com website is so great! There are no mysteries to be solved. They give you the full layout about what they have to offer and how much it costs. No surprises. I had a couple of questions about the different options and their customer service rep was so friendly! She answered all my questions. I ordered my first paper and it was so well written that I got an A+ on it! Thank you, EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Joyce T.
New Orleans, LA
|
|
I was trying to choose between EssaysEmpire.com and another online writing service and I didn’t know which one to pick. Then, I began to read reviews. I didn’t read even one thing negative about EssaysEmpire.com, and the other site was fraught with complaints. I went with EssaysEmpire.com, and it turned out that all the good things I had read about the service were true. My paper was fully guaranteed, but it was A-1 quality. The customer service people were great. The prices were right. Now, I am a devoted fan. When I need help with my writing, I go straight to EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Fred H.
Berkeley, CA
|
|
Thank you for doing what you do. You helped a lot of my friends, and now you have helped me. You provide a valuable service to students who need to get over writing hurdles. |
![]() |
John G.
Erie, PA
|
|
Thanks goes out to the writers who presented me with the best paper I have ever turned in. My professor was so impressed with it that he took excerpts from it to put in his class handouts on how to write the perfect paper. EssaysEmpire.com, you made me one proud student today! |
![]() |
Cleo P.
Oakland, CA
|
|
I submitted my order as a ‘rush order’. I only had 2 days to get my paper finished and I just felt like I was sinking. I didn’t understand the material I was writing about, and I didn’t know what I was going to do. My friend recommended EssaysEmpire.com. I had very little lost by attempting to use this writing service, so I did. It was an excellent move on my part, because, not only was my paper finished on time. It was also excellently written. I will always be grateful to my friend for recommending your service. It is wonderful. |
![]() |
Kathy M.
Las Cruces, NM
|
|
To EssaysEmpire.com: Thank you for my outstanding paper. When I read it, I knew that I would get an A+ on it. Also, thanks for adding all of the pertinent details that I asked you to customize. You did a brilliant job. Just brilliant. |
![]() |
Celeste H.
San Francisco, CA
|
|
EssaysEmpire.com always gives me a plagiarism report to prove that the work they wrote for me is authentic. I appreciate this. It helps eliminate worry. |
![]() |
Sanjaya K.
Calcutta, INDIA
|
|
I am fully satisfied with my research paper. It cannot have been easy for your writers to compose! The topic is called, "PARALLEL ALGORITHM FOR MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MATRIX MULTIPLICATION OPERATIONS REPRESENTATION USING KARNAUGH MAP”. That is a very difficult topic! However, your writers developed an algorithm, included a diagram and a graph and related multi-dimensional matrix multiplication perfectly. I am thrilled with the work I received and will be using your company again in the near future. Thank you for all of your hard work on this project. I love it! |
![]() |
Hannah B.
Tulsa, OK
|
|
I am happy. I am happy because I got an A+ on my research paper. I did this by hiring the professional writers at EssaysEmpire.com to write it for me. It was everything I had hoped it would be. Thanks, EssaysEmpire.com! |
![]() |
Delaine A.
Taos, NM
|
|
I had a question about the pricing. As I glanced through the EssaysEmpire.com website, I noticed that they were offering a lot for not all that much money. I spoke to a customer service person and she told me that the prices I saw on the website were accurate. Therefore, I ordered my first paper, not expecting all that much. What I got back was a brilliantly written essay that earned an A+ mark! Wow! I am impressed! |
![]() |
Langley R.
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
One of the things that I appreciate most about EssaysEmpire.com, is that they don’t resell your paper. Only you own it, if you hire them to write something. Other writing services that I have used, just circulate the same paper over and over, and if you get caught turning one in, too bad. You are expelled. EssaysEmpire.com will even give you a plagiarism report after they run it through their anti-plagiarism check. Such details set EssaysEmpire.com above the rest. |
![]() |
David H.
New York, NY
|
|
I want to thank each writer who participated in helping with my large project. I know they spent a lot of energy turning out an admirable product, and I feel good for having hired them to take on this important project. EssaysEmpire.com is reputed as the best writing company on the Internet. Now, I know first hand, that you live up to that reputation. I could not have asked for a better deal. |
![]() |
Sarah M.
Portland, OR
|
|
Today was the perfect day to make an A+! It convinced me that there are solutions to problems that seem impossible to solve. When I realized that the due date for my paper was coming up quickly, I felt like there was nothing I could do. If I didn’t hand in my paper on time, I would get an F and fail the course. However, I had to study for 3 major exams and write two other papers. My roommate suggested that I turn the paper over to you guys, which I did, and voila! I got an A+ on it and the problem was solved. Thank you, EssaysEmpire.com and to your writers and staff. You are a great writing service. |